


Together Is My Favorite Place To Be

by secretsidgenowriter



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Adoption, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretsidgenowriter/pseuds/secretsidgenowriter
Summary: When Sid announced that he was going to adopt, no one was really surprised.





	Together Is My Favorite Place To Be

When Sid announced that he was going to adopt, no one was really surprised.

All the guys said it made sense; that he was never going to find someone good enough for him to settle down with so doing it on his own was the only way.

It was nice that they believed he could do it by himself but it hurt that they thought that was the reason. That he was too picky or too much for someone else to handle. He didn’t want to be alone but that’s how the chips fell for him.

Truth was, he had already found someone he wanted to settle down with. He was more than good enough for Sid, probably too good. Funny and kind and smart and handsome and perfect. He was the only one Sid could ever imagine spending the rest of his life with but he didn’t want Sid back and Sid couldn’t waste the rest of his life waiting for something that would never happen so he had to move on. He had to start a family on his own.

Ben is born one week early three weeks after the end of the season.

Sid decided to stay in Pittsburgh for the summer to avoid traveling with a newborn but now he’s stuck here alone, with the guys going their separate ways for the off season and his parents not scheduled to arrive for another few days.

He knows he’s prepared, or, as prepared as he can be after reading every single book he could get his hands on and having countless conversations about child rearing with Kuni and Duper but it still feels like a lot when he closes the front door behind him and it’s only him and the smallest baby he’s ever seen tucked against his chest.

He realizes fairly quickly that the books and the conversations are more like guidelines and when it comes to taking care of babies, common sense is the only thing that prevails.

Sid makes sure that Ben is fed and burped and changed. He carries him around the house until he falls asleep then very carefully places him in his crib. Sid watches him sleep, dark lashes fanning out over soft pink cheeks and he can’t stop himself from reaching out and dragging the back of his index finger across Ben’s skin. Ben’s face scrunches up and Sid pulls his hand back, ready to pick him up and apologize if he starts to cry but Ben settles himself back down and continues to sleep.

Sid leans on the edge of the crib and takes a deep breath, the first one he feels like he’s taken since they got home. They can do this. He can do this.

Ben cries more on the second day. Deep, gasping wails that makes Sid head and heart ache.

There’s nothing Sid can seem to do to stop it, no comfort or distraction that he can provide. He tries rocking him and feeding him and changing him. He tries making funny faces and dangling brightly colored plastic keys and shaking stuffed animals that rattle in front of him but nothing works. Ben just cries and cries until his face is an angry red.

“I know,” Sid says softly even though he doesn’t really know at all. “I know.”

It’s marginally worse on the third day.

Somehow the crying seems louder and more intense, like Ben thought about what he sounded like the day before and said to himself, ‘that was nothing, watch this.’

Sid doesn’t get a moment’s rest. He can’t put Ben down because that only increases the screaming so he can’t clean up the kitchen or do the laundry or even feed himself. He’s hungry and tired and feels like crying himself, something he actually does when Ben finally cries himself out and falls asleep.

Sid’s wiping at his eyes when he hears a knock on the front door and he flies down the stairs as quickly and quietly as he can manage and throws it open.

“I swear to God,” he whispers yells, “if you wake up that baby, I’ll–.”

He stops short and snaps his mouth shut. Geno is standing in front of him in the warm glow of the porch light, suitcase behind him and sunglasses high on the top of his head.

“What are you doing here,” Sid asks, stepping to the side as Geno lets himself in.

“You have baby,” Geno says, tucking his suitcase against the wall. It looks big and full. “Early too, have to be Crosby kid,” he jokes. “I come to see, make sure I’m first one so he knows to like me best. Rest of the guys are not so great. Your parents here?”

“Not for another few days.”

Geno looks at him with wide eyes. “You all alone? Sid, why you not call me sooner?”

“I’m doing okay,” Sid says and Geno rolls his eyes at the obvious lie.

“Yes, look real okay,” Geno says sarcastically and Sid folds his arms over his chest. It hides the spit up and the wrinkles but there’s nothing he can do to make the bags under his eyes or the grease in his hair disappear.

Geno ventures further into the house and clucks his tongue when he steps into the kitchen.

“You only bring one kid home,” he says as he gestures to the mess and Sid bristles.

“Don’t give me shit,” he snaps, “you don’t know what it’s like.”

Geno raises his hands. “Sorry, sorry. Where is baby?”

“He’s asleep and you can’t wake him.”

“Okay,” Geno says slowly, “so if he asleep then why you awake?”

“Because–.” Sid makes a sweeping motion with his arms toward the kitchen sink, filled with bottles and pacifiers that need to be cleaned. “I have things I have to do.”

“Not anymore, I’m here. You go take nap.”

“You’re going to clean up? Geno, no, I can’t let you do that, you’re a guest. You just flew in from…where’d you come from?”

“Miami. Not that long flight.”

“Miami? You didn’t even make it to Russia yet?”

“Thought I would have a little bit of time but…” He trails off and shrugs his shoulders as he turns on the hot water in the sink. “Serious, Sid, should go nap. But maybe first shower.” He looks over his shoulder and scrunches up his nose. “You stink.”

Sid very nearly falls asleep standing up in the shower. He dries himself off, quickly, running the towel over his hair and not caring how it looks before he pulls on a clean t-shirt and a clean pair of shorts.

He’s just finished buttoning them when Ben starts to cry in the next room.

Ben’s still whimpering when Sid brings him downstairs but Geno doesn’t seem to care. He steps forward into Sid’s space and peers down into the bundle of blankets.

“Perfect,” Geno whispers, “beautiful.”

“I know.”

“Look just like you,” Geno says and Sid laughs.

“That would be a pretty big coincidence,” Sid tells him as Ben stops fussing and yawns, causing Geno gasp and wrap around Sid’s shoulder.

“Sid,” he says, voice thick with wonder and Sid nods. He gets it, he knows. “Can’t believe you have. You so grown up.”

“I’m almost thirty two. I’ve been a grown up for awhile now.”

“I know but…” Geno shakes his head and steps around in front. “Can I hold?”

“Of course,” Sid says, surprising himself with how easily he passes over his son into Geno’s waiting arms. “Support his head.”

“Okay, okay, have held a baby before,” Geno tells him as he cradles Ben in his arms. “But never one so sweet.”

Geno stays.

He holds Ben and gently rocks him back and forth, speaking in low, slow Russian while Sid makes himself a sandwich and fixes Ben a bottle.

It gives Sid time to return a couple dozen emails and send new photos of Ben to the group chat. He calls his mother then does a load of laundry and then a second load, folding and putting away the onesies and blankets from the first load while the second spins in the washing machine.

He stays through Ben’s bath and his nighttime feeding and when it’s time for bed he wordlessly follows Sid up the stairs with his suitcase.

“What are you doing,” Sid asks once they reach the top.

“Going to bed,” Geno answers like it’s obvious. “Short flight but still flight. Little tired.”

“Okay, but your house is like, five miles away.”

Geno takes a sudden step back. “You want me to go?”

“No, no, I didn’t say that.” If Sid’s arms weren’t full of baby he’d be reaching for Geno right now. “I just don’t know why you want to stay. You know he doesn’t sleep through the night, right? He cries every few hours.”

“Okay, so I get up.”

“You want to get up and take care of him?”

“Sid, you look in mirror at all? Look awful.”

“Thank you so much,” Sid says dryly and Geno gives him a soft smile.

“Is a lot to do alone. I’m here. Can stay and help but only if you want.”

Sid nods. He certainly wants that.

It’s a blessing to have an extra set of hands around and Ben seems as taken with Geno as a newborn baby can be.

Like father like son.

Sid expects Geno to go back to his place, or maybe back to Miami or Russia, when his parents arrive but he just greets them at the door like he belongs there.

Sid’s parents don’t bat an eye at his presence, too focused on Ben to either notice or care. Geno brings their luggage upstairs to the spare room on the other side of the nursery but when he comes back down he falls right into step with Sid’s family, making tea in the kitchen and telling Sid’s mother how cute it is when Ben yawns.

It’s like they accept that Geno is here without an explanation. It’s almost as if they expect him to be.

It’s strange, going from an empty house to a home full of people.

It’s loud, with people always talking or laughing. There’s always something cooking on the stove and multiple sets of shoes lined up near the front door.

His parents leave and Geno stays. The house is quieter but it doesn’t feel any less like a home.

It’s all going to blow up in his face, Sid knows it will. Geno will eventually leave. He’ll have to. The summer is only so long and he’s sure Geno won’t want to waste it all here, heating up bottles and changing diapers. He should be out there, having fun and meeting people. He should be doing things like swimming with sharks of parasailing or whatever slightly dangerous yet still without the realm of reason activity that usually fills up his Instagram in the summer.

Sid tries to prepare himself for it. He half expects Geno to walk into the kitchen in the morning, fully dressed and pulling his suitcase behind him and he’ll be off.

Instead, morning after morning he gets Geno stumbling sleepily down the stairs with a severe case of bedhead and a mumbled good morning. Sometimes Sid imagines Geno stepping up behind him and wrapping an arm around his waist as he presses a kiss to the back of Sid’s shoulder.

It never happens but that doesn’t stop Sid from wanting it to.

A month after Geno arrives Ben gets his first cold.

He develops a slight fever and doesn’t seem interested in his bottle at all and he keeps sneezing these little high pitched sneezes that Sid might consider cute if they were happening to anyone elses kid.

Everyone tells Sid that colds are nothing to worry about and he knows they’re right but he still makes Geno drive to the pediatricians office so he can twist around in the passenger seat and keep a careful eye on Ben.

Ben fusses in Geno’s arms as Sid fills out the stack of forms in the waiting room. Geno’s been walking him back and forth in front of the nurses window and Sid can hear the nurses talking about how cute they both are. It’s a funny kind of jealousy that takes over him, to be so annoyed about something he wholeheartedly agrees with.

Geno hands Ben over when the nurse calls Ben’s name. “I’ll wait,” he says and Sid nods as he shoulders the diaper bag, unsure if he’ll need it but unwilling to go anywhere without it.

“Both Dads can come,” the nurse says, clearly not recognizing Sid’s last name or either of their faces, and Geno freezes and looks at Sid.

“You can come if you want,” Sid says and Geno hesitates, eyes wide as saucers before he nods and takes the diaper bag off Sid’s shoulder and pulls it onto his own.

The doctor looks surprised when she walks in and sees the three of them but recovers quickly and directs all her focus onto Ben.

His temperature isn’t enough to cause alarm and his breathing isn’t labored so she gives them a pamphlet about how to treat colds at home and sends them on their way.

Among other things, they need to make sure they’re giving Ben plenty of fluids and should think about buying a humidifier for his room. Sid orders three of them, one for Ben’s room, one for the living room, and one just in case one of the other two breaks, on his phone before they’re even out of the building.

The ride home is quiet. Ben’s finally fallen asleep and doesn’t even wake when Geno unhooks the car seat from the base and carries him inside.

“Should put him down for nap or just leave him in seat,” Geno asks as he sets the car seat down on the kitchen island. He looks at Sid and Sid can’t take it anymore. He has to do something.

He steps into Geno’s space, a thrill zipping up his spine when Geno doesn’t step back, and kisses him.

Geno hums and brings his hands up to cradle Sid’s face and kisses back.

“Don’t go,” Sid says when they break apart. “Don’t leave us.”

Geno tips Sid’s head back, his thumbs brushing gently across Sid’s cheekbones. “Sid,” he says, “not going anywhere.”


End file.
